Interfolded napkins and method for interfolding napkins

ABSTRACT

A rectangular stack of interfolded rectangular napkins including a plurality of napkins, each napkin in the stack comprising a first fold in a first direction, and a second fold in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and bisecting the first fold and the napkin in the second direction, the intersecting first and second folds dividing the napkin into four panels with a pair of adjacent panels located on each side of the second fold, wherein each of the napkins within the stack includes at least one pair of panels arranged in the stack at a level between two pairs of adjacent panels of another of the absorbent napkins within the stack.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention pertains to a rectangular stack of interfolded rectangularnapkins comprising a plurality of napkins, each napkin in the stackcomprising a first fold in a first direction, and a second fold in asecond direction perpendicular to the first direction whereby theintersecting first and second folds divide the napkin into four panels.The napkins are interlinked in the stack by means of each of the napkinswithin the stack comprising at least one pair of panels being sandwichedbetween a pair of adjacent panels of another of the absorbent napkinswithin the stack.

The invention also relates to a method of forming a stack of interfoldednapkins.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to folded sheet material andarrays of folded sheet materials, and more particularly, to foldednapkins and folded napkin arrays.

In commercial food service establishments and public restrooms, foldedpaper products such as paper napkins are typically provided indispensers from which the products may be withdrawn by the patrons ofthose establishments. Whereas the highest quality paper napkins areinvariably “server-controlled,” i.e., delivered individually by a waiteror waitress, it is nevertheless desired to provide paper products in theuser-dispensed application that are perceived as being of relativelyhigher quality.

Interfolded paper products, and especially interfolded paper napkins,have the advantage that they can be loaded into a dispenser whosefaceplate cooperates with the stack of napkins to encourage users toremove napkins one at a time. This results in users taking fewer napkinsthan if it were possible or encouraged to remove a group of napkinssimultaneously, although the paper product stack according to theinvention may be used in dispensers that promote either one at a time orgroup dispensing.

Interfolded paper napkins applied to a user-dispensed environmentinclude those that are single folded only. Patent literature describes avariety of arrangements of interfolded paper napkins having pluralparallel folds, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,118,554, 6,090,467 and6,213,346.

Paper napkins that are single folded only (sometimes also called“half-folded” when the fold bisects the napkin, or “off-folded” when itdoes not) have the disadvantage that, in order to achieve a given totalabsorbency, the basis weight of the unfolded napkin sheet must berelatively high. This in turn causes the napkin to have relatively lowsoftness and drape properties, both of which properties are important tothe user's perception of the total quality of the napkin. The provisionof plural parallel folds in a napkin has the obvious limitation that thenapkin will have a relatively elongated shape in the direction parallelto the folds, unless the starting blank is cut to a relatively moreelongated shape in the direction perpendicular to the folds.

Such interfolded paper napkins also include those that are folded atleast twice about axes that are perpendicular to one another, asdescribed in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,611,765, the entirety ofwhich patent is hereby expressly incorporated by reference. Inembodiments of that patent wherein two folds each bisect the base napkinsheet, the area of the unfolded sheet will be approximately four timesthat of the folded napkin. U.S. Published Patent Application No.2010/0055391 describes an array of folded sheet materials in which eachsheet is first folded along a “medial” fold and then folded in aperpendicular direction in an “off-fold” location. However, aninterfolded stack of such materials is subject to certain limitations asregards its appearance and dispensing, as discussed herein.

In most cases, napkins employed in connection with commercial foodservice or the “away-from-home” markets are not purchased by the enduser. Thus, the primary considerations by a purchaser of these napkinsare usually cost, number of napkins that can be fit into a dispenser anddispensability characteristics. However, there are a number of problemsin trying to reduce the cost of a napkin. For example, a napkin has tobe designed to be contained in a reasonably sized dispenser, be strongenough to resist tearing or other damage during the dispensing processand also be readily removable from the dispenser.

Accordingly, a continual need exists for improved napkins and arrays ofnapkins that meet the customer's needs.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The invention provides a new and improved way of interfoldingrectangular napkins and a stack of interfolded napkins having a highlybeneficial configuration.

The disclosure offers a rectangular stack of interfolded rectangularnapkins comprising a plurality of napkins, the stack having opposingparallel first and third sides and opposing parallel second and fourthsides perpendicular to the first and third sides, each napkin in thestack comprising a first fold in a first direction, and a second fold ina second direction perpendicular to the first direction and bisectingthe first fold and the napkin in the second direction, the intersectingfirst and second folds dividing the napkin into four panels with a pairof adjacent panels located on each side of the second fold, wherein eachof the napkins within the stack comprises at least one pair of panelsarranged in the stack at a level between two pairs of adjacent panels ofanother of the absorbent napkins within the stack. The first folddivides the napkin into a smaller part and a larger part, wherein thearea of the smaller part is between ⅕ and ½ of the area of the largerpart and wherein the smaller part of the napkin is placed on the outsideof the folded napkin, and that the napkins are placed in the stack withthe first folds arranged in an alternating sequence along the first andthird opposing parallel sides of the stack such that each napkin isarranged with the first fold opposite the first fold of any adjacentnapkin in the stack.

The terms “larger” and “smaller” are used herein in a relative sense todefine a size relationship between different parts or panels in thedisclosed napkins and should not be understood as being absolute terms.

In each napkin, two of the four panels are of a first length in thesecond direction and two of the panels are of a second length in thesecond direction greater than the first length. Each of the pairs ofpanels located on either side of the second fold comprises one panel ofthe first length and one panel of the second length.

Within the stack of interfolded napkins according to the disclosure,each napkin receives between two inwardly facing adjacent panels a pairof adjacent panels from each of two napkins disposed respectively aboveand below said napkin in said stack. The only exceptions to thisarrangement are found at the end napkins, i.e. the first and lastnapkins in the stack which have only a pair of panels from one adjacentnapkin arranged between the inwardly facing panels of each end napkin.

When folded and arranged in the manner according to the disclosure, theresulting rectangular stack of interfolded napkins obtains a regularshape and an even bulk distribution. The even bulk distribution isprimarily attributed to the alternating positioning of the smaller partsor smaller panels of the napkins in the stack. It is also of particularimportance that the area or first length of the smaller panels does notexceed ½ of the area or second length of the larger panels. Thisrequirement corresponds to an area of the smaller part of the non-foldednapkin being at most ⅓ of the total area of the non-folded napkin. Thesize relationship may also be expressed as the length or extension ofthe smaller part of the non-folded napkin in the second direction beingat most ⅓ of the total length of the non-folded napkin.

When folding a napkin such that the smaller part on one side of thefirst fold constitutes ⅓ of the area of the napkin while the larger parton the other side of the first fold constitutes the remaining ⅔ of thenapkin, the smaller part will overlay with and cover half the area ofthe larger part after creating the first fold in the napkin. This meansthat when two napkins are placed in a stack with the first folds of thenapkins forming outer opposing edges of the napkins and being arrangedalong opposing sides of the stack, the inner free edges of the smallerpanels being constituted by the smaller parts of the napkins will meeteach other without overlap along a centre line extending in the firstdirection of the stack of napkins.

If the size of the smaller parts were to exceed ⅓ of the napkin, itwould result in an overlap between the edge parts along the inner freeedges of the napkins when placed in the stack. With increasing number ofnapkins in the stack, the overlap would build up to form a ridge alongthe center of the stack and would distort the shape of the stackrendering the stack difficult to package and to place in a dispenser.Moreover, the ridge gives the stack an unappealing low-qualityappearance. There is also a considerable risk that the overlapping edgesof the napkins are folded or otherwise damaged during the interfoldingstep when the stacks are formed which also severely detracts from theappearance of the napkins and the shape of the stack.

On the other hand, if the size of the smaller parts is less than ⅓ ofthe napkin, there will be a gap in the center of the stack between thefree edges of the opposing napkins. Such arrangement may be lesspreferred than an arrangement where the free edges are generally meetingalthough a gap leads to less distortion of the shape of the stack ofnapkins than an overlap between the edges and may, in fact, be desirablein order to ascertain that the napkin edges are not damaged duringproduction of the stack. Accordingly, a gap of a few millimeters, suchas 3 to 20 millimeters may be useful for this purpose and may have anegligible negative influence on the shape of the stack. The size of thegap should not be so great as to render the smaller panels too small toserve as gripping flaps on the outside of the folded napkins. For thisreason, the area or length of the smaller part of each napkin should notbe less than about ⅙ of the area or length of the napkin, i.e. not lessthan ⅕ of the area or length of the larger part.

In accordance with the disclosure, adjacent napkins in the stack may beinterfolded so as to overlap in a direction of the equal width, suchthat each napkin in the stack overlaps each adjacent sheet by anapproximately equal extent. This configuration gives the stack a“footprint” corresponding to the area of each of the larger panels.

The footprint area is preferably selected to meet user expectations.When the stack of napkins is placed in a standard dispenser, it shouldpreferably fit the dispenser size in the same way as conventionallyfolded standard-sized napkins. By conforming to an expected appearanceand perceived size, the napkins in the stack convey an assurance ofquality to the buyer of the napkins as well as to the end users of thenapkins.

Thus, in accordance with the disclosure it is possible to offer napkinsof a reduced unfolded area which are perceived as being functionallyequivalent to standard-size napkins as the folded area or footprint ofthe napkin is the same for both sizes of napkins. In addition tosatisfying user expectations, the reduced size stacked napkins inaccordance with the invention are arranged in a neat, shapely andvolume-efficient stack that provides a means for increasing the numberof napkins in a package or in a given volume without detriment tocustomer perception of the napkins in the stack. In this manner, napkinswhich are folded and stacked in accordance with the invention affordbenefits with regard to economical packaging and transport. Moreover, asa standard-sized stack of napkins according to the disclosure containsmore napkins than a conventional stack of the same size, the frequencyof refills that have to be made is considerably lower when the napkinsare used with a refillable dispenser. The reduction in fiber cost pernapkin when compared to a corresponding standard-size napkin may be asmuch as 25% or more, with corresponding savings in packaging, transportand the subsequent handling of the stacks.

In accordance with the disclosure, the first fold in each napkin may belocated such that the second length is at most about four times thefirst length and at least about two times the first length.

The first fold may be located such that the second length is twice thefirst length. As set out above, this size relationship may beparticularly preferred as it offers a particularly even distribution ofmaterial in the stack.

In order to fit commonly available napkin dispensers, the napkins mayhave folded dimensions of approximately 4.25″ by 6.5″ (108 mm by 165mm).

The unfolded dimensions of the napkins may be approximately 8.5″ by 11″(216 mm×279 mm).

It is to be understood, that other sizes and size relationships areconceivable within the scope of the invention.

Each of the napkins in the stack may be a single ply paper napkin havinga basis weight of from 10 to 20 lb, preferably from 11 to 17 lb, morepreferably from 12 to 15 lb, and most preferably 13 lb. The expressionof basis weight in pounds as used herein is with reference to a stack of500 unfolded single ply sheets each measuring 24 by 36 inches.

Each of the napkins may bear an embossed surface relief applied byembossing rollers during a converting phase of manufacturing thenapkins. An embossed surface may enhance the appearance of the napkinand giving the end user an impression of high quality. An embossedsurface may also promote grippability of the napkin, in particular whenplaced at least partly on the smaller panel on the outside of the foldednapkin. The embossed surface prevents the adjacent panels from stickingtogether and aids a user in identifying the location of the panel on topof the adjacent larger panel so that it may be more easily lifted andgripped, allowing the napkin to be removed from the stack of napkins.

In addition to or instead of embossments, each napkin may bear a printand/or be dyed or contain pigmented fibres. Embossments and prints maybe applied in any pattern or combination of patterns, such asgeometrical patterns, dot patterns, figurative patterns, ornamentalpatterns, texts, logotypes, etc. The embossments and/or prints may beapplied over the full area of each napkins or may be applied to only apart of the area.

The disclosure also offers a method of forming a stack of interfoldednapkins each napkin having opposing parallel first and third side edgesand opposing parallel second and fourth side edges perpendicular to thefirst and third side edges.

The method comprises the steps of:

-   a) providing a plurality of non-folded rectangular napkins;-   b) folding each napkin along a first axis parallel with the first    and third side edges of the napkin to form a first fold, wherein the    first fold is made to divide the napkin into a smaller part and a    larger part, wherein the area of the smaller part is between ⅕ and ⅓    of the area of the larger part;-   c) folding each napkin along a second axis parallel with the second    and fourth side edges of the napkin to form a second fold that is    perpendicular to the first fold and bisecting the first fold and the    napkin and wherein the second fold is made to place the smaller part    of the napkin on the outside of the folded napkin, and wherein the    intersecting first and second folds divide the napkin into four    panels with a pair of adjacent panels located on each side of the    second fold, each pair of adjacent panels comprising a smaller panel    formed from the smaller part of the napkin and a larger panel formed    from the larger part of the napkin;-   d) forming a rectangular stack of interfolded napkins by placing the    napkins with the paired panels of the folded napkins in an    overlapping configuration and by inserting a pair of adjacent panels    of a following napkin between the pairs of adjacent panels of a    preceding napkin within the stack; and-   e) placing the napkins in the stack with the first folds arranged in    an alternating sequence along opposing parallel sides of the    rectangular stack with each napkin being arranged with the first    fold opposite the first fold of any adjacent napkin in the stack.

Two of the panels may be of a first length in the second direction andtwo of the panels may be of a second length in the second directiongreater than the first length and each of the pairs of panels comprisesone panel of the first length and one panel of the second length.

Adjacent napkins may be interfolded so as to overlap in a direction ofthe equal width, such that each napkin with the stack overlaps eachadjacent napkin by an approximately equal extent.

The first fold may be made in a location such that the second length isat most about four times the first length and at least about two timesthe first length. It may be preferred that the second length is twicethe first length.

A stack of napkins which are interlinked by being interfolded inaccordance with the disclosure may be placed in a dispenser. A commontype of dispenser is a box having a dispensing opening through which thenapkins are successively pulled out. The interfolding causes the napkinsto be interlinked in such a way that when a first material sheet isextracted a predetermined part of a subsequent napkin is fed out throughthe dispensing opening. The dispenser may be a disposable dispenser,such as a cardboard box or may be a reusable dispenser which may berepeatedly refilled with new napkins, as the dispenser becomes emptied.

Napkins in the form of sheets of material intended for wiping and forhygienic purposes and provided in the form of stacks of napkins fromwhich individual napkins can be readily removed when needed may inaccordance with the invention be any kind of wet or dry napkin such asfood service napkins, paper towels, disposable handkerchiefs, facialtissue, industrial napkins, toilet paper, etc. The material may be afibrous material of any suitable kind such as cellulose based papermaterial, with or without admixture of man-made fibres, binders andfillers. The napkins may comprise only man-made fibres. However, it isusually desired that a napkin has some degree of absorbency or that itat least is wettable. If the fibrous material contains a largeproportion of fibres of a hydrophobic character implying that the fibresare non-wettable by aqueous fluids, it may be suitable for wiping oilyor greasy surfaces. A hydrophobic material may be treated with a wettingagent in order to make it more hydrophilic. The napkins of the inventionare rectangular in shape, including quadratic shapes and may have anysuitable size.

Preferably, the napkins are sized to fit in standard sized napkindispensers. The napkins may be processed by one or more techniques suchas embossing, printing and dyeing if desired. The napkins may besingle-ply sheets of material or may comprise two or more plies of thesame or different materials. The napkins may contain additives such aslotions, perfumes, detergents, liquids, etc. as known in the art.

Interfolded napkins are commonly understood as being sheets of materialarranged in a stack of superposed sheets which are each folded at leastonce. The sheets are interlinked in such a way that the separate foldedsheets of material form a chain of sheets where each sheet has a leadingpanel and a trailing panel, the trailing panel being at least partlyoverlapped with the leading panel of the subsequent sheet in the stack.In this manner, the individual sheets are held loosely together by meansof frictional forces arising between the overlapping parts of thepanels. When more complicated folding arrangements are used, the leadingand trailing panels may be separated by one or more intermediate panels.In the folding arrangement of the present invention, a first pair ofleading panels is contiguous with a second pair of trailing panelsfollowing directly after the leading panels. The sheets can be dispensedfrom the opening in a dispenser box by pulling at the exposed smallerleading panel of the first sheet in the stack. In this manner, the firstsheet may be pulled away at the same time as a predetermined part of theleading panel pair of the following sheet becomes exposed at thedispensing opening and arranged in a dispensing position where it maysubsequently be gripped and removed from the dispenser.

Napkins in accordance with the disclosure may be formed from absorbentsheets and may be of a variety of types, including, without limitation,dry crepe tissue; wet crepe tissue; creped TAD (through air dried)tissue; uncreped TAD tissue; structure or textured tissue, made using aprocess including the step of using pressure, vacuum, or air flowthrough the wet web (or a combination of these) to conform the wet webinto a shaped fabric and subsequently drying the shaped sheet using aYankee dryer, or series of steam heated dryers, or some other means,including but not limited to tissue made using the ATMOS processdeveloped by Voith or the NTT process developed by Metso; fabric crepedtissue, made using a process including the step of transferring the wetweb from a carrying surface (belt, fabric, felt, or roll) moving at onespeed to a fabric moving at a slower speed (at least 5% slower) andsubsequently drying the sheet. Those skilled in the art will recognizethat these processes are not mutually exclusive, e.g., an uncreped TADprocess may include a fabric crepe step in the process.

The napkins according to the disclosure are preferably embossed,particularly when they are in the form of paper napkins the paper ofwhich is formed on a traditional Yankee cylinder/dry crepe forming line.As used herein, the term “embossed” connotes a three-dimensional lowrelief pattern of a distinct pattern or image. Such embossing may beapplied by conventional embossing rollers during the converting phase ofthe napkin manufacturing, preferably upstream of the folding andinterfolding, and/or may be formed by a selected pattern of the TADfabric, if the napkins are made by the TAD technique. Similarly, theterm embossing as used herein may embrace the pattern imparted tostructure or textured tissue by the textured papermaking fabrics used tomake them, regardless of whether the textured papermaking fabricsinclude additional distinct design elements (see, for example, U.S. Pat.No. 7,624,765). The term “embossed” as used herein does not embrace,however, any incidental surface roughness imparted to a napkin sheet bythe forming fabric used in a traditional Yankee cylinder/dry crepeforming line, which surface roughness does not display any predeterminedpattern to the unaided eye.

When the napkins according to the disclosure are embossed during aconverting phase utilizing embossing rollers, the embossing rollers willpreferably be of the type in which one roller bears a male patterncomprising all or a majority of projecting embossing elements, and theother roller bears a female pattern comprising all or a majority ofcooperating recessed embossing elements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described in greater detail below with referenceto the figures shown in the appended drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view of an individual unfolded napkin according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of the napkin in FIG. 1 after having been folded afirst time;

FIG. 3 is a view of the napkin in FIGS. 1 and 2 after having been foldedtwice;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the napkin in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a stack of interfolded napkins;

FIG. 6 is a schematic section taken at the line VI-VI through the stackof interfolded napkins in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In FIG. 1 a rectangular napkin 10 is depicted as it appears in anon-folded configuration with two parallel short side edges 11, 12 andtwo parallel long side edges 13, 14 perpendicular to the short sideedges 11, 12. The napkin, prior to folding, preferably has dimensions ofapproximately 8.5″×11″ (216 mm×279 mm). However, those dimensions shouldnot be considered limiting to the invention and may of course be variedto suit the particular desired application of the napkin.

The napkin is shown with an optional embossed frame pattern 15comprising a plurality of small individual embossments such as dots,short lines, etc. The napkin is also shown with an optional printed orembossed leaf pattern 16. When present, printed and embossed patternsmay take any form as known in the art and may include figurative patternelements as well as ornamental elements, dots, lines and othergeometrical elements, texts, logotypes etc. Printed and embossedpatterns may be used to bond the plies together in multi-ply napkins. Anembossed pattern placed at the edge of the napkin, as shown in FIG. 1,may stabilize the napkin and facilitate identification of the napkinedge when the napkin is folded so that the napkin edge may be readilylifted from underlying material as will be further described herein. Thepresence of printed and/or embossed features as shown in the figuresshould not be considered limiting to the invention. Moreover, printand/or embossments may be differently placed and may occupy a larger orsmaller area than in the example shown in the figures. The invention isalso applicable to napkins completely without print and/or embossments.

When the napkins according to the invention are to be used in acommercial establishment, such as a fast-food restaurant or aconvenience store, it may be desirable for the napkins to bear the nameand/or the logo of the establishment in which the napkins will bedispensed. In that case the name and/or logo may be formed by embossing,or by printing the napkin with an ink that sufficiently contrasts withthe color of the paper stock, or by a combination of those techniques.

The napkin 10 is first folded along a fold line 18, as indicated in FIG.1 to form a first fold 28 as shown in FIG. 2. The napkin 10 is thenfolded a second time along a fold line 19 that is perpendicular to thefold line 18 to form a second fold 29, bisecting the napkin 10 in adirection parallel to the long side edges 13, 14, as shown in FIGS. 3and 4. The first fold 18 is parallel to the short side edges 11, 12 ofthe napkin 10, and may, thus, have a length of 8.5″. When the napkin isa non-square rectangle as in FIG. 1, the first fold is preferablyparallel to the short side edges of the rectangle, and thusperpendicular to the long side edges 13, 14.

The first fold 28 is deliberately offset from a line A parallel to itthat would bisect the napkin 10. Accordingly, the fold 28 divides thenapkin into a smaller part 30 and a larger part 31. The fold 15 willtypically be located such that the length “b” will be at most about 5times the length “c”, and at least about 2 times the length “c”.Preferably, the length “b” is between 2,1 and 3 times the length “c” andmost preferably approximately 2 times the length “c”. The exactdimensions are, of course, dependent on the size of the particularnapkin. However, it has been discovered that the length “c” shouldpreferably be at least 1 inch. Moreover, for reasons of production wheninterfolding the napkins, it may be desirable that the length “c” of thesmaller part 30 is a little less than ⅓ of the total length (b+c) of thenon-folded napkin, such as up to 1 inch less than ⅓ of the length (b+c)when the napkin has a total length (b+c) of 11″ (216 mm).

When starting from a non-folded napkin 10 having the dimensions 8.5″×11″(216 mm×279 mm) as set out above, the fully folded napkin 10 illustratedin FIG. 3 will have dimensions of approximately 4.25″×6.5″ (108 mm by165 mm). Those are the same dimensions of the fully folded napkin in thepreferred quarter-folded embodiment of commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No.7,611,765; however, in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,611,765 the basenapkin sheet has dimensions of approximately 8.5″×13″ (216 mm×330 mm)whereas the corresponding base napkin sheet of the present invention mayhave a base dimension of only about 8.5″×11″ (216 mm×279 mm). Thepresent invention therefore provides a product that in its fully foldedconfiguration has the same footprint as the preferred napkin describedin the earlier patent, yet which is made with at least about 25% lesspaper. Moreover, as the thinner part of the folded napkin occurs overonly a minority of the length of the longer side thereof, the tactileperception and performance of the napkin is not significantly affected.

When the napkin 10 is folded, the folds 28, 29 divide the napkin intofour panels x1, x2 and y1, y2, wherein the two panels x1, x2 which areformed from the smaller part 30 of the napkin 10 are smaller than thetwo panels y1, y2 which are formed from the larger part 31 of the napkin10. After the napkin 10 has been folded the second time, to create thesecond fold 29, the panels x1, x2, y1, y2 can be considered to formpairs of panels located on either side of the second fold 29. Each suchpair of panels consists of a smaller panel x1, x2 and the correspondinglarger panel y1, y2. The napkins are folded with the larger panels y1,y2 facing each other on the inside of the folded napkin 10 and thesmaller panels x1, x2 facing away from each other on the outside of thefolded napkin, as is illustrated in FIG. 4. The exposed smaller panel x2in FIG. 4 may be used as a gripping means 35 for gripping and pullingthe napkin 10 away from a stack of napkins, as described herein.

FIGS. 5 and 6 depict schematically the manner in which the foldednapkins of the invention may be interfolded to form a stack 40 of foldedand interfolded napkins according to the invention. As seen in FIG. 6,the interfolding of adjacent napkins is such that any given napkinwithin the stack receives, between a pair of adjacent panels x1, y1; x2,y2 of the given napkin, a pair of adjacent panels x2, y2 of an uppernapkin and a pair of adjacent panels x1, y1 of a lower napkin within thestack 40. At the upper and lower ends of the stack 40 only one pair ofpanels from an adjacent napkin is sandwiched between each pair of panelsof the end napkins 41, 42.

Such an interfolding arrangement is shown in the context of singlefolded paper towels, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,427,420 and 1,632,446. Aquarter-fold interfolded napkin is described in commonly-owned U.S. Pat.No. 7,611,765. Web interfolding machines are described in U.S. Pat. Nos.3,285,599 and 3,291,479, the entireties of which patents are herebyexpressly incorporated by reference.

In FIG. 5 it can be seen that the napkins 10 as interfolded within thestack 40 alternate between first napkins 50 oriented as in FIG. 4, withthe second fold 29 being visible to a viewer of FIG. 5 at the front orsecond side 61 of the stack 40, and second napkins 60 oriented as if thenapkin of FIG. 4 were rotated 180° about an axis perpendicular to thenapkin, such that the second fold 29 is at the back or fourth side 62 ofthe stack 40 as shown in FIG. 5. Accordingly, only folded edges 29 areexposed on the front and back sides 61, 62 of the stack 40 as shown inFIG. 5 except from the uppermost napkin 41 that has a long side edge 13visible from the front 61. An exposed edge of the lowermost napkin 42 isalso exposed on the back 62 of the stack 40 but is hidden from view inFIG. 5.

The napkins 50, 60 are further arranged so that all the first napkins 50are arranged with the first fold 28 facing the right-hand side 63 of thestack 40 as seen in FIG. 5 and with all the second napkins arranged withthe first fold 28 facing the left-hand side 64 of the stack 40.

The interfolding arrangement depicted in FIGS. 5 and 6 thus revealsanother significant advantage of the folding arrangement according tothe present invention, in that the overlapping panels of adjacentnapkins are all of equal width “a” in the direction of interfolding.This is again in contrast to an arrangement as described in U.S.Published Patent Application No. 2010/0055391, wherein the foldingconfiguration requires that in the interfolded stack of napkins eachnapkin will overlap unequally with each adjacent napkin. Consequently,when the stack is loaded into a dispenser in one direction, theemergence of a next napkin upon dispensing of an upstream napkin willrequire that a short panel pair pull out a long panel pair despite onlypartial overlap between the panel pairs, whereas when the stack isloaded in the other direction the leading edge of each next napkin willbe the short panel pair, which affords users only a reduced graspingarea with consequent risk of cross-contamination of the dispensersurfaces.

By contrast, in the stack of interfolded napkins as depicted in FIGS. 5and 6 there is no difference between the top of the stack and thebottom, in that the napkins will be dispensed the same way whether thestack is loaded into a dispenser top up or bottom up.

A stack of interfolded napkins in accordance with the invention has aneven bulk distribution. As can be readily gleaned from FIG. 6, thealternating positioning of the smaller panels x1, y1 of the napkins 50,60 in the stack 40 results in an equal amount of napkin material beingplaced on each side of a line B dividing the stack in two halves. It isimportant that the first length “c” of the smaller panels x1, x2 doesnot exceed ½ of the second length “b” of the larger panels y1, y2. Thisrequirement corresponds to an area of the smaller part 30 of thenon-folded napkin 10 in FIG. 1 being at most ⅓ of the total area of thenon-folded napkin. The size relationship may also be expressed as thelength “c” or extension of the smaller part of the non-folded napkinbeing at most ⅓ of the total length (b+c) of the non-folded napkin.

With reference to FIG. 1, when folding a napkin 10 such that the smallerpart 30 on one side of the first fold 28 constitutes ⅓ of the total areaof the napkin while the larger part 31 on the other side of the firstfold 28 constitutes the remaining ⅔ of the napkin, the smaller part 30overlays with and covers half the area of the larger part 31 aftercreating the first fold 28 in the napkin 10. With reference to FIG. 5,this is can be seen to have the effect that when two napkins 50, 60 areplaced in the stack 40 with the first folds 28 of the napkins formingouter opposing edges of the napkins at the first and third sides 63, 64of the stack 40, the inner free edges of the smaller panels beingconstituted by the smaller parts of the napkins will only reach to thecentre line B in FIG. 6 without crossing that line or overlapping in thecenter of the stack 40.

If the size of the smaller parts were to exceed ⅓ of the napkin, itwould result in an overlap between the edge parts along the inner freeedges of the napkins when placed in the stack. The overlap would buildup to form a ridge along the center of the stack and would distort theshape of the stack rendering the stack difficult to package and to placein a dispenser. Moreover, the ridge gives the stack an unappealinglow-quality appearance. There is also a considerable risk that theoverlapping edges of the napkins get caught in each other during theinterfolding step when the stacks are formed so that the napkin edgesare folded or otherwise damaged which also severely detracts from theappearance of the napkins and the shape of the stack.

If the size of the smaller parts is smaller than ⅓ of the napkin, therewill be a gap in the center of the stack between the free edges of twoopposing napkins. Such arrangement may be less preferred than anarrangement where the free edges are generally placed at the center lineB. However, a gap leads to less distortion of the shape of the stack ofnapkins than an overlap between the edges and may be desirable in orderto ascertain that the napkin edges are not damaged during production ofthe stack. Accordingly, a gap in the order of a few millimeters, such as3 to 20 millimeters may be useful for this purpose. The size of the gapshould not be so great as to render the smaller panels too small toserve as gripping flaps on the outside of the folded napkins. For thisreason, the area or length of the smaller part of each napkin should notbe less than about ⅙ of the area or length of the napkin, i.e. not lessthan ⅕ of the area or length of the larger part.

When pulling away a napkin from the stack 40, the user may easily gripthe exposed smaller panel, x1, of the uppermost napkin 41, using thepanel as a gripping means 35. Identification of the gripping means 35 isfacilitated by the optional provision of edge embossments 15 which serveas a tactile and visual indicator of the location of the gripping means35.

Folding and interfolding of the napkins into a stacked configuration inaccordance with the invention may be made by a method involving foldingindividual napkins a first and a second time as disclosed herein andsubsequently interfolding the napkins while rotating every other napkin180° in relation to the preceding napkin and to the following napkin sothat the smaller panels become arranged on alternating sides of theresulting stack of napkins.

As noted above, when the napkins according to the invention are to beused in a convenience store or a food establishment, particularly a fastfood franchise, it is contemplated that the embossing might take theform of a logo of the store or restaurant in which the napkins will beused, either alone or in combination with a decorative border.

The basis weight of the absorbent napkins according to the invention ispreferably within the range of a high quality napkin, and thus less thanthat of commercially available single folded paper napkins, whose higherbasis weight places them closer to the category of paper towels.Preferred embodiments have a basis weight of about 13 lb, calculated asdefined above. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in theart that the basis weight may vary over a broader range, from about 10to 20 lb per unfolded napkin, more preferably from about 11 to about 17lb, and still more preferably from about 12 to about 15 lb.

While this range of basis weights is greater than that commonly used forfacial tissue (wherein a basis weight of 8½ to 9 lb per ply is typical),it is distinctly less than the basis weights found in commerciallyavailable single-fold napkin/towels, which tend to have basis weights inexcess of 20 lb. Thus, by providing a paper napkin wherein the napkinhas a relatively low basis weight, yet the napkin is folded to have atleast four panels, the invention provides a napkin that is comparativelysofter and has improved drape properties in relation to single foldproducts.

The invention also contemplates the use of the novel stack of napkins ina variety of dispensers. One example is a dispenser having adownwardly-directed opening, such as that described in commonly-ownedco-pending application Ser. No. 10/660,659, the entirety of which ishereby expressly incorporated by reference. Other examples aredispensers having an upwardly directed opening, or a lateral opening. Adispenser having an upwardly directed opening and suited for dispensingthe absorbent napkin products according to the invention is described incommonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,689, the entirety of which is herebyexpressly incorporated by reference.

While the present invention has been described in connection withvarious preferred embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that thoseembodiments are provided merely to illustrate the invention, and shouldnot be used as a pretext to limit the scope of protection conferred bythe true scope and spirit of the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A rectangular stack of interfoldedrectangular napkins comprising a plurality of napkins, said stack havingopposing parallel first and third sides and opposing parallel second andfourth sides perpendicular to said first and third sides, each napkin insaid stack comprising a first fold in a first direction, and a secondfold in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction andbisecting said first fold and said napkin in said second direction, saidintersecting first and second folds dividing said napkin into fourpanels with a pair of adjacent panels located on each side of saidsecond fold, wherein each of said napkins within said stack comprises atleast one pair of panels arranged in the stack at a level between twopairs of adjacent panels of another of said absorbent napkins withinsaid stack, said first fold divides said napkin into a smaller part anda larger part, wherein the area of the smaller part is between ⅕ and ½of the area of the larger part and wherein said smaller part of saidnapkin is placed on the outside of the folded napkin, and that saidnapkins are arranged in said stack with said first folds arranged in analternating sequence along said first and third opposing parallel sidesof said stack such that each napkin is arranged with said first foldopposite said first fold of any adjacent napkin in said stack.
 2. Thestack of napkins according to claim 1, wherein two of said panels beingof a first length in said second direction and two of said panels beingof a second length in said second direction greater than said firstlength and wherein each of said pairs of panels comprise one panel ofsaid first length and one panel of said second length.
 3. The stack ofnapkins according to claim 2, wherein adjacent napkins are interfoldedso as to overlap in a direction of equal width, such that each napkin insaid stack overlaps each adjacent napkin by an approximately equalextent.
 4. The stack of napkins according to claim 2, wherein said firstfold is located such that said second length is at most about four timessaid first length and at least about two times said first length.
 5. Thestack of napkins according to claim 4, wherein said first fold islocated such that said second length is twice said first length.
 6. Thestack of napkins according to claim 1, wherein each of said napkins hasfolded dimensions of approximately 4.25″ by 6.5″ (108 mm by 165 mm). 7.The stack of napkins according to claim 1, wherein each of said napkinshas unfolded dimensions of approximately 8.5″ by 11″ (216 mm by 279 mm).8. The stack of napkins according to claim 1, wherein each of saidabsorbent napkins is a single ply paper napkin having a basis weight offrom 10 to 20 lb.
 9. The stack of interfolded napkins according to claim1, wherein each of said napkins bears an embossed surface relief appliedby embossing rollers during a converting phase of manufacturing saidnapkins.
 10. The stack of napkins according to claim 1, wherein each ofsaid absorbent napkins is a single ply paper napkin having a basisweight of from 11 to 17 lb.
 11. The stack of napkins according to claim1, wherein each of said absorbent napkins is a single ply paper napkinhaving a basis weight of from 12 to 15 lb.
 12. The stack of napkinsaccording to claim 1, wherein each of said absorbent napkins is a singleply paper napkin having a basis weight of about 13 lb.
 13. A method offorming a stack of interfolded napkins each said napkin having opposingparallel first and third side edges, and opposing parallel second andfourth side edges perpendicular to said first and third side edges, themethod comprising: a) providing a plurality of non-folded rectangularnapkins; b) folding each said napkin along a first axis parallel withsaid first and third side edges of said napkin to form a first fold,wherein said first fold is made to divide said napkin into a smallerpart and a larger part, wherein the area of said smaller part is between⅕ and ⅓ of the area of said larger part; c) folding each said napkinalong a second axis parallel with said second and fourth side edgessides of said napkin to form a second fold that is perpendicular to saidfirst fold and bisecting said first fold and said napkin and whereinsaid second fold is made to place said smaller part of said napkin onthe outside of said folded napkin, and wherein said intersecting firstand second folds divide said napkin into four panels with a pair ofadjacent panels located on each side of said second fold, each pair ofadjacent panels comprising a smaller panel formed from said smaller partof said napkin and a larger panel formed from said larger part of saidnapkin; d) forming a rectangular stack of interfolded napkins by placingsaid napkins with said paired panels of said folded napkins in anoverlapping configuration and by inserting a pair of adjacent panels ofa following napkin between said pairs of adjacent panels of a precedingnapkin within said stack; and e) placing said napkins in said stack withsaid first folds arranged in an alternating sequence along opposingparallel sides of said rectangular stack with each napkin being arrangedwith said first fold opposite said first fold of any adjacent napkin insaid stack.
 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein two of saidpanels are of a first length in said second direction and two of saidpanels are of a second length in said second direction greater than saidfirst length and wherein each of said pairs of panels comprise one panelof said first length and one panel of said second length.
 15. The methodaccording to claim 14, wherein adjacent napkins are interfolded so as tooverlap in a direction of equal width, such that each absorbent napkinwithin said stack overlaps each adjacent napkin by an approximatelyequal extent.
 16. The method according to claim 13, wherein said firstfold is in a location such that said second length is at most about fourtimes said first length and at least about two times said first length.17. The method according to claim 16, wherein said first fold is locatedsuch that said second length is twice said first length.